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E-mail: jjharden[at]unc.edu

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What is LaTeX? LaTeX is a markup language and document preparation system. Though it takes some initial effort to learn, it makes writing quicker and easier, especially if your work requires special features such as figures, tables, or equations. It can also be used for a wide range of documents &ndash from posters and presentation slides to articles and even books. See the links below for more information, or click here for some notes on LaTeX.

Getting started To use LaTeX, you will need the necessary software (a "distribution" or "build"). This includes the TeX software and a text editor that you use to create and compile documents.

Public goods To write your dissertation or MA thesis in LaTeX:
Here are some older resources for writing a dissertation that may be slightly out of date. Once I get to the dissertation stage of my career I will update this.

  • Stephen Long's notes on formatting a dissertation in TeX.
  • Long also provided some example code to show the basic format of an acceptable dissertation.
  • To use this, you will need two files: natbib.sty (see Stephen's notes about this revised version of natbib) and uncthesis_sp07.sty.
  • For your reference, here is UNC's Guide to Theses and Dissertations.

To write your MA thesis in LaTeX, you will need the two files below. Please note that these are specifically designed for an MA thesis, NOT a dissertation. Also, you will need a basic understanding of natbib commands, which can be found here. If you have questions about how to use these files or find something that needs to be changed, e-mail me.

In April 2009 the Graduate School accepted my completed MA thesis. I used the two files above and this code. Let me know if you want the figures.

Some UNC images:
These images can be easily inserted into LaTeX documents or webpages. You can also find more here. Just be careful to follow the rules on using the University Seal.

LaTeX templates for political science journals:
Different journals have different preferences for how an initial manuscript submission should look. Here are some templates. Note that both of these require the use of "\fnote{}" instead of "\footnote{}" to make footnotes and this BibTeX file.

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